Case Studies

pets

Tommy rabbit - CT scan after being attacked by a fox

Tommy is owned by one of our registered veterinary nurses, Franki. He was having fun hopping around his garden when Franki witnessed a fox jump into the garden and grab Tommy around the head. Franki ran out into the garden with her dog Leo and luckily the fox dropped Tommy and ran off, but Tommy had blood around his eye and was clearly in shock.
He was admitted to our hospital for intravenous fluid therapy, syringe feeding, pain relief and supportive nursing. Tommy was unable to eat of his own accord therefore further investigations were required.
Bruce performed a CT scan on Tommy to establish any internal injuries, revealing a fractured zygomatic arch (eye socket). It was fractured in three places. This is not an area that can be repaired surgically, therefore the decision was made to manage Tommy’s pain and continue to syringe feed in the hopes he would start to eat of his own accord once he felt better.
Tommy remained in the hospital with us and a nutrition plan was made up for him. This detailed the quantities of food he required for his body weight to ensure we met his nutritional requirements with assisted feeding.
5 days later Tommy was eating small quantities of food of his own accord in between our nurses syringe feeding him.
After 2 weeks in the hospital Tommy was discharged home to his family. He was so pleased to be back with his best friend, Leo the Lurcher, and we are pleased to report he has made a full recovery!